10 replies to this topic

[Bob Riebe]

https://www.macsmoto...agic-mile-1964/

 

[Rupertlt1]

Hundreds of pics here:

https://library.revs...earch/DuQuoin/1

A number of USAC officials went down in a plane crash?

RGDS RLT

Edited by Rupertlt1, 25 October 2024 - 04:49.

[Lee Nicolle]

That track looks like a horse race track. Hardly a car race fence etc.

Not bad racing on what seems to be plain dirt. And not that dusty either

Those cars handled the track really well.

[Collombin]

I know the DuQuoin state fair had held horse races in earlier years but was under the impression that the track was newly constructed for auto racing. It was a regular event on the national championship trail until dirt tracks were dropped after 1970, and considered relatively safe I believe (Ted Horn and the unfortunate Rodger Ward/Clay Smith incident notwithstanding). One of the few places Foyt got upside down.

[kayemod]

Never seen anything quite like that before, very impressive,a great find. Good to have a commentator who didn't scream like a girl at events on track, something that more than anything else has stopped me watching current F1 TV except on mute. I saw that these cars still had door handles, was that before doors were welded shut, with drivers having to enter and leave through the windows?

[70JesperOH]

With the final announcement "Joe Leonard is the winner!" could this be the result?: http://www.ultimater....php?raceid=304

This with an overview of the USAC Stock Car series: http://www.ultimater...m/usacstock.htm to follow up.

 

The racing sound seems generic, with a studio commentator (who' he'?), the standard of the time, as this was no live broadcast. In what context was this broad castet?

 

Jesper

Edited by 70JesperOH, 25 October 2024 - 14:31.

[Collombin]

Looks like a snippet from one of Dick Wallen's Stock Car Classic videos.

[Bob Riebe]

Never seen anything quite like that before, very impressive,a great find. Good to have a commentator who didn't scream like a girl at events on track, something that more than anything else has stopped me watching current F1 TV except on mute. I saw that these cars still had door handles, was that before doors were welded shut, with drivers having to enter and leave through the windows?

At that time, doors could be left functional at the owners choice; most entered through the window even if the doors were not welded shut.

[Bob Riebe]

That track looks like a horse race track. Hardly a car race fence etc.

Not bad racing on what seems to be plain dirt. And not that dusty either

Those cars handled the track really well.

Most Mid-West tracks, were once - or dual use - horse race ttracks till horse racing faded way in the sixties.

My home town half-mile County Fair track did both till the mid-sixties.

The simple wood fence lining the inside of the track was the bane of both drivers and track repair men.

[Jim Thurman]

 

The racing sound seems generic, with a studio commentator (who' he'?), the standard of the time, as this was no live broadcast. In what context was this broad castet?

Looks like a snippet from one of Dick Wallen's Stock Car Classic videos.

Definitely. Wallen's videos have been pirated all over the internet.

 

Specifically, this was used in a syndicated TV show called, IIRC, "Grand Prize Racing", or something similar. Sponsored by Gabriel Shock Absorbers, one could pick up a bingo type card for the week's airing of highlights of a few 3-5 year old USAC stock, midget and sprint races - using Wallen video - and win prizes if your bingo card had the numbers (which is why the use of the large, boxed numbers on screen, which always correlated to the contenders, and the crashers). I distinctly remember watching the show as a kid.

Edited by Jim Thurman, 25 October 2024 - 16:57.

[Jim Thurman]

As Bob mentioned, DuQuoin was a horse track. But, it wasn't just in the Midwest. Almost all California fairgrounds tracks began - and some continued for many years - as horse tracks. Same for other Western states as well, even if they didn't have nearly as many county and district fairs as California did (California still has around 70).

 

In horse racing circles, DuQuoin was known primarily as host for years of The Hambletonian Stakes, the premier harness racing event.

Edited by Jim Thurman, 25 October 2024 - 17:40.